Highly automated driving systems are designed to operate vehicles on the road without driver interaction or other external control, for example, self-driving vehicles or autonomous vehicles. Also, these vehicles may have more restrictive operational limitations in place for greater increased safety and/or security for certain classes of occupants. For example, in the instance of children occupants, these limitations may include a permissible vehicle range and rate of speed/acceleration. It is desirable that automated driving systems be able to assess and prioritize the vehicle authority for each of the vehicle occupants, and to apply the prioritized vehicle authority for travel, and further desirable to alter the vehicle authority to reflect a change to the vehicle occupants.